1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for distributing video image. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for distributing video image which are capable of providing a video image for a plurality of communication interfaces to use.
2. Description of Related Art
With the popularization of Internet, more and more users choose a live communication interface (such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and ICQ) as a bridge for communicating with others. As for the common live communication interfaces available in the market, in addition to the basic function of transmitting text messages, a video function has already been developed, which is achieved by using a video apparatus to capture the image of a user and transmitting the image to the another user in real-time through the Internet, thereby further reducing the distance between users.
However, due to the limitation of computer software/hardware, the above video apparatus can only be provided for a live communication interface at one time, so when the user activates a plurality of live communication interfaces simultaneously, only one live communication interface can use the video image provided by the video interface.
In order to provide the video image to a plurality of live communication interfaces simultaneously, the conventional method adds a virtual drive module to receive the video image from the video apparatus, and provides the video image for the plurality of communication interfaces which have been activated to use. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the conventional apparatus for distributing video image. As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus for distributing video image 100 includes a plurality of communication interfaces 101a-101n, a control system 102, a drive module 103, a video unit 104, a virtual drive module 105, and a display unit 106.
When the user activates a first communication interface 101a (e.g., the MSN Messenger) and a second communication interface 101b (e.g., the Yahoo Messenger), the control system 102 informs the drive module 103 to activate the video unit 104. When receiving the video image, the video unit 104 transmits the received video image to the control system 102 through the drive module 103. The control system 102 performs signal processing on the received video image, and then transmits the video image to the virtual drive module 105. Then, the video image is loaded into the first communication interface 101a and the second communication interface 101b through the virtual drive module 105, and is displayed by the display unit 106.
However, when each of the communication interfaces is activated, the drive module 103 and the virtual drive module 105 are activated simultaneously, and two video windows are generated at the same time. But, only the video window of the virtual drive module 105 can be displayed, while the video window of the drive module 103 is occupied by the control system 102 and cannot display. Since the video window corresponding to the drive module 103 is continuously activated, while using, the user must select the video window of the virtual drive module 105, instead of selecting the video window of the drive module 103, thereby causing inconvenience in operation of the user.
Furthermore, the control system 102 and the drive module 103 have different operation interfaces, and thus the video image can be transmitted only after the format is converted to the format such as direct X or VFW. When the control system 102 intends to transmit the video image to the virtual drive module 105, the signal processing must be performed again, and the repeated signal conversion occupies system process space and wastes plenty of time. Moreover, when using the virtual drive module 105, the video image must be retransmitted to the communication interface activated by the user after activating the virtual driving program with the CPU, and the repeated signal conversion increases the load of the system and wastes plenty of time.